This invention relates to a filter respirator for protection against smoke and toxic gases produced at the time of conflagrations and other disasters.
Heretofore, it has been known to provide a smoke-proof respirator in which an intake vessel having a suction or intake valve is inserted into a front face opening of a mask body provided on the lower side with a discharge valve, and within this intake vessel a smoke filtering material such as a prefilter or a main filter (reference: Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 29795/1977).
The above mentioned smoke-proof respirator filters only remove smoke by means of the smoke filtering material, and it is difficult to remove with this respirator organic gases and carbon monoxide (CO) constituting toxic gases generated together with smoke at the time of a fire, for example, whereby this respirator does not function as an effective poison-proof respirator at the time of a fire.
On the other hand, with an ordinary gas mask used at the time of a fire, an air cylinder is always carried on the back of the user, and air in the air cylinder is supplied through a hose to a mask body provided with an inhalation-exhalation valve. The operation and handling of a gas mask of this character are troublesome, requiring the placing of the heavy air cylinder on the user as a back pack and the fitting of the mask body on the user's face, and the entire equipment is cumbersome and heavy and therefore lowers the mobility of the user in an emergency. For these reasons, this type of gas mask is accompanied by the problem of difficulty of emergency evacuation and emergency rescue activity at the time of a fire or some other disaster.